Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. The film stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who complains to God (Morgan Freeman) that he is not doing his job correctly, and is offered the chance to try being God himself for one week. The film is Shadyac and Carrey's third collaboration, having previously worked together on Ace Ventura: Pet Detective in 1994 and Liar Liar in 1997. It co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Ann Walter, Philip Baker Hall and Steve Carell, and received mixed reviews from critics. When released in American theaters in May 2003, Bruce Almighty opened to $85.9 million, making it the top Memorial Day opening weekend of any film in history at the time.6 The film surprised film pundits when it beat The Matrix Reloaded the following weekend. By the end of its theatrical run, it made $242 million domestically and a total $484 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2003. Evan Almighty, a spin-off sequel focusing on Carell's character, with Shadyac and Oedekerk returning to direct and write, and Freeman also reprising his role, was released in 2007. Plot Bruce Nolan is a television field reporter for Eyewitness News at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York, but he desires to be the news anchorman instead. Bruce is in a relationship with his girlfriend, Grace Connelly, but he also has a mild crush on his co-worker, Susan Ortega. However, Bruce suffers from constant bad luck and reaches his breaking point when he is passed over for the promotion by his rival, Evan Baxter, who later plagiarizes his dialogue from an unaired segment by Bruce while he was accepting the promotion on air. This causes Bruce himself to aggressively and insanely criticize the station during his first live report at Niagara Falls, and he is promptly fired. Following a series of other misfortunes including an altercation with a street gang while attempting to help a homeless man, Bruce takes out his frustration on God, blaming Him and claiming that He is "the one who should be fired." Bruce receives persistent messages on his pager which he tries to ignore before he finally listens and follows it to a deserted warehouse, where he meets God, who offers to give him his job to see if Bruce can do a better job. God gives Bruce two rules that he must follow: Bruce cannot tell anyone else that he is God, and Bruce cannot use his powers to interfere with free will. Initially, skeptical until discovering his powers in a local diner when he parts his soup like The Red Sea, Bruce soon becomes jubilant with the powers, using them for personal gain such as causing the wind to lift the dress of a beautiful woman, getting revenge on the street gang that assaulted him earlier, transforming his clothes and his damaged car into a Saleen S77, teaching his dog to use the toilet, drawing the Moon closer to Earth and sexually impressing Grace. Bruce also finds ways of using the powers to cause miraculous events to occur at otherwise mundane events that he covers, such as discovering the body of Jimmy Hoffa, earning him his job back, and causing a meteor to harmlessly land near a Mark Twain-themed chili cook-off. Still wanting the anchor position as well as wanting to get revenge on Evan for taunting him, Bruce uses his powers to make Evan humiliate himself on air, causing Evan to be replaced in favor of Bruce as the new anchor. After taking Grace to a fancy dinner and telling her about his promotion (disappointing her, as she thought he was going to propose), Bruce begins to hear voices in his head. He re-encounters God, who explains that the voices are prayers to God, and that Bruce must deal with them. Bruce creates an e-mail system to receive prayers and respond to them - but finds that the influx is far too great for him to handle, even with the use of his powers. So he sets the program to automatically answer "Yes" to every prayer, thinking this will make everyone happy. During a party to celebrate Bruce's promotion, Susan seduces and kisses him. When Grace arrives and sees this, she angrily storms out; Bruce follows her, but she is heartbroken and won't listen to him. He tries to use his powers to convince Grace to stay, but cannot influence her free will. As Bruce looks around, he realizes that automatically granting everyone's prayers has plunged the world into chaos (such as every one in the city winning the lottery among 400,000 others, thus only getting $17 and a Tsunami caused by the moon's proximity to Earth). Bruce returns to God, who explains that despite how chaotic things seem, there is always a way to make things right, and that Bruce must figure out a way to solve it himself. Bruce then begins to solve his problems in life practically, such as helping a man whose car has broken down, potty training his dog properly, and allowing Evan to have his job back. Bruce returns to his computer system, having briefly unplugged it, and he finds many prayers from Grace about him. As he reads them, another prayer from Grace arrives, this one wishing not to be in love with Bruce anymore. A despondent Bruce walks alone on a highway, asking God to take back his powers and letting his fate be in His hands. Bruce is suddenly struck by a truck and regains consciousness in a white void. God appears and tells Bruce to pray for what he truly wants; Bruce prays for Grace to find someone that sees and loves her the way he does. God agrees, and Bruce awakens in the hospital, shortly after being miraculously revived by his doctors. Grace arrives and she and Bruce reconcile. After his recovery, Bruce finally returns to his field of reporting, now taking more pleasure in simple news stories. Bruce and Grace announce their engagement on live television during a "Be the Miracle" blood drive. The homeless man from earlier, holding a sign with philosophical messages that Bruce had run into on previous occasions, finally reveals himself to be God. Cast * Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan * Morgan Freeman as God * Jennifer Aniston as Grace Connelly * Philip Baker Hall as Jack Baylor * Catherine Bell as Susan Ortega * Lisa Ann Walter as Debbie Connelly * Steve Carell as Evan Baxter (credited as Steven Carell) * Nora Dunn as Ally Loman * Eddie Jemison as Bobby * Sally Kirkland as Anita Mann * Micah Stephen Williams as boy on bike * Tony Bennett as himself * Carlos Sánchez as Juan Valdez * John Murphy as himself * Madeline Lovejoy as Zoe * Noel Gugliemi as hood Category:2003 films Category:2000s comedy-drama films Category:2000s fantasy-comedy films Category:American films Category:American comedy-drama films Category:American fantasy-comedy films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Tom Shadyac Category:Buffalo, New York in fiction Category:God in fiction Category:Films about television Category:Films set in New York (state) Category:Religious comedy films Category:Spyglass Entertainment films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:Films scored by John Debney Category:Films about wish fulfillment Category:Films with screenplays by Steve Oedekerk